Beginning in 2010 with the first delivery of TSLL’s free weekly newsletter, each Friday I would share a reflection of something I had learned about life and deliver to subscribers along with the posts from that week on the blog. Fast-forward to 2020 and with the encouragement of many subscribers, the idea for a book of daily meditations on how to live a simply luxurious life, a life of true contentment, began.

The Road to Le Papillon: Daily Meditations on True Contentment is a book for readers looking to experience true contentment every single day no matter what is going on in their lives or the world. It took me 20 years to fully and consciously figure out how to do just that, and while I am still on the journey of learning, applying, growing and appreciating all that life wants to teach me, now that I have the tools and skills for finding a steadiness every single day, I wanted to share because it makes all the difference in being able to live the life you might never thought was possible, but always hoped it would be.

Preordering begins today for both the hardback and paperback copies (click here), and as I share in the accompanying video below, the paperback will ship more swiftly, but while the hardback will take more time (3-4 weeks), each will arrive on or near the official release date of March 22nd if you order today.

Book Synopsis:

The road to true contentment is a chosen journey. Our enjoyment of life expands and deepens based on being courageously open to possibility and tenaciously becoming fully human. Living mindfully in the present steadies us as we pursue true contentment and live peacefully in our everydays, engaging with love, openness, presence, and kindness. 

With the story of how she arrived at her cottage home, which she calls Le Papillon (The Butterfly), Shannon Ables focuses on understanding ourselves and the world, and on living everyday with true contentment. Each person’s journey and discoveries will determine their unique destination, whether a place or something intangible. 

Living a life of contentment in our everydays opens us to vast possibilities, grounding our lives, relationships, and engagement with the world in peace, starting from within and elevating the quality of our lives. We cultivate contentment by:

• Trusting our journey and engaging fully as our true selves.
• Learning to understand our minds and emotions, and to interact well with others.
• Letting go of expectations and remaining open to the unknown.

We become able to savor daily moments — sipping a hot cuppa as the sun rises; sharing loving exchanges with a partner, child, friend, colleague, or neighbor; the evanescent gems Mother Nature bestows.

If we insist on knowing how our life journey will unfold, we disrupt the potential for magic to occur. And rather than wait for something “better,” something “more,” we invest in the present moment. We participate rather than demand, celebrate rather than control. We become love rather than wait for love. 

In The Road to Le Papillon, Shannon tells intimate, never-before-shared, pivotal life stories that brought her to Le Papillon. With nods to the inspiration she finds in the French and British cultures, she lays out an array of skills and ahas, many new, others shared in her first two books, Choosing the Simply Luxurious Life and Living the Simply Luxurious Life, and on her blog The Simply Luxurious Life and her podcast The Simple Sophisticate. 

The book is organized by theme. Each daily entry concludes with a call to action and a petit plaisir (a simple everyday luxury). Readers are urged to explore further with suggestions for reading or listening, or tips for the amateur gardener and chef. 

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TSLL’s 3rd book, the publisher

The publishing world has been fascinating to learn more about over the past 10 years – how it works, the options made available, the cost or lack-thereof, as well as the control and voice given to the writer depending upon who they choose to publish with.

Being a teacher and earning an income aside from my writing for the past 12 years enabled me to save up money to publish my own books. As some readers may remember, prior to my first book in 2014 being published I worked with a traditional agent and shopped my book around to traditional publishers. Many of the publishers and my agent at the time advised me to remove much of the content from my blog and had different ideas as to what the illustrations breadth should be. Needless to say, I learned I needed to trust myself, so I chose to become my own publisher, seeking out experts in their field who also understood the world of blogging and specifically, TSLL audience and what they expected upon visiting The Simply Luxurious Life. However, being my own publisher does not mean I publish on my own.

The cost to publish books, and why many writers need a publisher is not a small amount. From paying for a high quality editor which the process can take between 6 months to a year depending upon the length and content of the book, to paying for template design and layout, as well as inputting the manuscript into the printable template, to selecting and hiring an illustrator and then the final book cover design. Each of these experts are worth the investment, which is primarily why it is far more preferable for not only one’s budget but stress to leave these responsibilities and the cost to your publisher. With that said, the publisher weighs the cost as well. And it is important to note, even though the term ‘self-publish’ implies entire control, each book has to go through a review process by the international publisher who makes the book available around the world. This review process ensures quality as well as making sure the book is void of any copyright infringement, etc. Needless to say, it takes a team and all of the rules still apply as they do for those publishing through the traditional approach.

I am grateful to have found a trusted editor who has worked with me on all of my books. I began working with my editor on TSLL’s 3rd book in June 2021 officially, but even a year prior, 2020, we began talking simply to organize my thoughts on what the book would look like and how it would be organized. We just now (mid-February) have wrapped up the editing process, so 8-9 months for hands-on editing. The inputting of the book into the template, also a cost to budget, and in my case, both my editor and the template designer worked with me. The other part of choosing to self-publish was being able to hand-pick my illustrator to ensure the blog and the book worked together and I wanted someone who understood what the blog was all about. If I were to have worked with a traditional publisher, this decision would not be entirely in my hands. Finally, the cover design and layout has been entrusted to my web design team Dash Creative who dependably deliver a layout incorporating the illustrations and necessary text in a professional presentation.

All of this is to say, you invest without a guarantee when you take on the choice of self-publishing, but I was fortunate to have my teaching income to take the risk on publishing my books and most importantly, experts in their field of expertise who I feel most fortunate to work with to bring a book I am proud of to readers. You, the readers of TSLL, are the audience I am writing for, and I am and was listening to what you hoped to find inside the covers of this book. I do hope you find this book to be a resource, a tranquil space in your day each time you sit down to read and the reassurance you are looking for to trust your journey as you ground yourself in true contentment and live the amazing life that is possible, sharing your awesome, unique gifts with the world and with yourself.

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Preordering

Find The Road to Le Papillon: Daily Meditations on True Contentment on Amazon now. When you order today, you will be guaranteed to receive your copy (paperback or hardback) by March 22nd.

Formats available:

• Hardback
• Paperback
• eBook
• Audio (on Audible), coming March 22nd

~You may also order signed copies directly from TSLL. Place your order here.